Engineering achievements

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello Hlib,

(02-07-2021 10:44 AM)Hlib Wrote:  It should be recognized that some unique projects (especially in the military industry) are difficult to convert for commercial purposes. For example, use intercontinental missiles to launch satellites.

It has been successfully done, the beginnings of the US manned space program were based on military rockets. The first American to reach Orbit (John Glenn) was launched there using an intercontinentl missile. Some of these (namely the Delta and Atlas) are still built and used today for civilian space launches. As are many the former Soviet rockets (Proton, Soyuz).

Satellite navigation (which I included in my list of enigineering milestones) was also developed solely with military goals in mind. I still consider it as a miracle that we are allowed to use it in our everyday lives. It would have been impossible to fund it's development on a civilian basis.

Quote:Appolo program and Concorde, for all their grandiosity, ultimately did not bring the expected financial profit.

I wouldn't say that. Apollo was never intended for profit and besides from it's "space race" aspect it was mainly a program for nationwide technological modernisation. It boosted electronics, information technology, logistics, communication and of course all aspects of flight and spaceflight. Lots of highly profitable industries can trace their history back to Apollo.

And as for Concorde, I am not sure if financial profit was really on the agenda. Since the brothers Wright (and that includes them as well) no one has been able to set up an aircraft industry or an operation using aeroplanes (airline!) which has been profitable for more than a short, happy period of time. Unless these companies receive some form of public subsidies (either directly like Airbus, which is what ultimately came out of the Concorde project, or through large military orders) they can not survive for long.

Quote:I am also interested in why HP calculators of the 1980s and 1990s did not get worldwide distribution in the field of science and education, but remained the most within a relatively small audience.

Because (no this is my personal view only of course) they made two big mistakes:
1. The prices of hp calculators of those years were about double compared to those of the competition, which made them unaffordable to large parts of their target clientele. I myself was a "victim" of that pricing policy because as a student in the 1980ies I could simply not afford an hp (among students "hp" stood for "high price" then...).
2. Their insisting on RPN and RPL (the latter was not even comprehensible for a majority of educators) ultimately turned away a large portion of those who would have been able to afford such a calculator. Because a calculator is a tool which is supposed to facilitate one's way through a mathematics, science or engineering course. But in order to effectively use these "tools", one would have had to take another course first... Not appealing to most possible users.

Quote:Some on this forum probably remember the View-Master stereo 3 reel set with "NASA Apollo Moon Landing 1969" from the early 70s: 21 pairs of high-quality stereo slides with a detailed overview of this mission. View-Master toy in those days gave the opportunity to visit many interesting places in absentia.

And how I do! My second most important collection (not in terms of numbers but affection) after calculators are View Master reels. Absolutely wonderful. By the way: ViewMaster viewers and reels are still made today, over 70 years after it's first introduction. This must be one of the most long-lived consumer product. You can use a 2021 viewer to look at a reel from 1950. The latest ones are actually VR glasses in which you insert your mobile phone and the stereo images are displayed by an App. Works pretty well, but does not have the charm of the mechanical device and the Kodachrome slides.

Regards
Max